Dangote Warns of Food Scarcity, Suggests Maize Export Banned

The Chief Executive of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, has warned about the danger of food scarcity owing to the Russia-Ukraine crisis as he has also suggested the banning of maize export.

Dangote revealed this to the federal government during the 4th Annual Nigerian Food Processors and Nutrition Leadership Forum on Thursday, 10th March in Lagos.

The forum was organised by the Aliko Dangote Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and TechnoServe, under the Strengthening African Processors of Fortified Foods (SAPFF) programme.

According to Mr Dangote, the ongoing war will fatally affect food production and distribution due to the breach in access to fertilisers. He disclosed that the effect may not be felt too quickly but in the coming months.

Noting that Russia and Ukraine are one of the top five in wheat production accounting for one-third of global wheat production, the industrialist said that there would be a shortage of wheat, maize and urea in the global market.

Speaking at the forum, Dangote said: “We would start seeing people exporting maize to earn foreign exchange which I believe we should stop. We need to grow more so we don’t have a shortage of food. It is about food security and it’s serious.”

Dangote also revealed that Russia and Ukraine produce about 13% of urea, 26% of potash, and one of the largest producers of phosphate globally. These are fertilisers that are important in the production of certain food products in Nigeria.

Investor Kings recalls that due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Nigeria stands at risk of losing N993.38bn in trade with Russia who is a major exporter of Durum wheat, herrings, blue whitings, and mackerel. Dangote’s warning for Nigeria is coming on the heels of many sanctions on Russia and the ripple effects of that to many global economies.

As the crisis between both countries persists, Nigeria is at a risk from not only Russia but also Ukraine as Nigeria also has trade relationships with Ukraine. In 2020, Nigeria spent $156.08m on imports from Ukraine, data by the United Nations Comtrade Database on International trade reveals. The database also indicated that import from Russia was $1.24bn in 2020.

Experts have also projected that Nigeria may need to look beyond Russia for many products and also cut out a number of their exports.